Harry's Summer Fling
by rockyz
Summary: Harry has a new neighbour who's more than he ever asked for. But hey, it's just for the summer, right. Or is it? My first HP fanfic, please read & review!
1. Nathalia

Harry lay beneath the window, listening to the news. He wasn't allowed to watch the news in the house, because the Dursleys would always suspect that he was up to something.

The news ended with an advertisement jingle about cornflakes and Harry rolled over onto his side, thinking about school, his friends, Ginny and the powerful wizard who wanted to kill him. He shut his eyes, and tried to relax. Just then, he heard the loud churring of a large vehicle. He opened his eyes irritably and saw a moving truck stopping at the house opposite the Dursleys'. A smaller, blue car followed behind and some people got out. Harry knew moving could be noisy, so he got up and decided to go to his room.

'You're back, are you?' said Harry, seeing his owl Hedwig when he opened his bedroom door. She hooted happily.

'Great, now deliver this to Ron for me,' he continued, and tied a rolled-up piece of parchment onto her leg. She hooted again and flew off into the distance.

Harry sighed and stuck a hand under his bed, pulling out a box of Honeydukes chocolates Ron had sent him. Popping one into his mouth, he lay on his bed and shut his eyes again. Hopefully he might get some rest.

Harry suddenly found himself in a large room with Ron and Hermione, and he knew he was dreaming. The room had fluffy clouds hovering near the ceiling and they took broomsticks and flew in and out of them.

Then, a door opened and Ginny came bursting in, pointing a finger accusingly at Harry.

'How could you, Harry?' she shrieked. He looked back at her, bewildered.

'How could you, how could you, how could you? How could you go out with other girls just when we broke up a few weeks ago? Surely you could at least wait a little while for me to settle down and be fine without you? But _no_, you can't help yourself, can you?' she continued. She began sobbing, and Hermione flew down and began comforting her. Harry looked at Ron, expecting some help. Instead, Ron shrugged.

'You really _should _have waited a little, you know,' said Ron.

'And of all people, her _best friend_!' said Hermione.

Harry had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, he felt himself falling off his broom, into a dark, endless pit…

He woke up abruptly, and found that it was already night. The Dursleys hadn't bothered to wake him up for dinner. He frowned and got out of bed, rubbing his head sleepily. For some reason, he felt like taking a walk, so he went downstairs.

'I'm going out,' he said loudly.

Uncle Vernon gave a grunt to show that he heard.

Harry opened the door and left the house. A cold wind blew and he stuck his hands into his pockets. He checked his watch, and realised his birthday was tomorrow. Then it struck him that he would be of age in two hours' time.

Two hours… perhaps he could threaten the Dursleys with magic then. He figured he should practice conjuring food so he would not have to eat the rubbish the Dursleys' ate because of Dudley's diet. He had never thought about all the possibilities when he turned seventeen before this. If only he had his apparition license.

'Hello,' said a voice behind him. Harry jumped and did a quick turnaround. Behind him stood a girl almost a head shorter than him. She looked around his age, with long black hair which curled from the shoulders and round black eyes which twinkled with her mischievous smile.

'Oh, er, hello,' he said in response, wondering what she was doing, lurking behind him in the dead of night.

'What are you doing, walking alone at this time?' she asked. Harry noticed she did not have a British accent, but a rather intriguing one not commonly heard in England.

'I was just…' began Harry, wondering what he should say. Then a thought came to mind.

'…well, what are _you _doing, walking alone at this time?' he asked. She grinned.

'I was following you, of course,' she said.

'_Following _me?'

'What's wrong? Would you prefer stalking?'

'No- but… that- that isn't the point. Why are you following me?' asked Harry.

'I saw you coming out of your house alone, and I was bored, so I decided to see what you were up to. I saw you lying under your window today. You didn't seem like someone potentially dangerous,' she answered, shrugging.

Harry stared at her incredulously. At first she stared back, and then her eyes flicked towards the scar on his forehead. Harry flattened his fringe nervously.

'Hey, hey, stop it! Let me see that!' she said, pulling Harry's arm away from his face and taking a good look at his scar.

_At least she isn't a witch, _Harry thought.

'Is that a _scar_? How'd you get it?' she asked, after a few moments' silence.

'Er…'

Harry did not know what to say. He realised he had never had to make up some excuse for his scar in an extremely long time, considering she was the first muggle Harry had spoken to other than the Dursleys' for a long while.

'I… I fell down the stairs once,' Harry lied. She smirked.

'Well, if you don't want to tell me, fine. I just moved opposite your house,' she said. _That explains the moving truck._

'…so you're the first new person I've met here! I moved here from America, you see. I'm Latina, though,' she continued. _And that explains the accent. _

'Oh. Okay. I'm Harry,' he said.

'Nathalia,' she said, sticking out a hand, which Harry shook.

They looked at each other for a while before realising they had been standing on the pavement for almost ten minutes.

'It's cold, isn't it? It's a lot warmer, where I come from,' she said, rubbing her arm and breaking the silence.

'Oh. Yeah, kinda cold for summer here, I suppose…'

For some reason Nathalia did not seem satisfied with his answer. She was eyeing his jacket with great interest.

'Oh,' said Harry, realising what she may have meant. 'Er, d'you want my jacket?'

She smiled. 'That would be nice,' she said. Harry passed her his jacket and she put it on, looking smaller than she already did.

'Thanks,' she said quietly. There was another bout of silence.

'So- how long have you been living here?' she said.

'Um, since I was one, I guess.'

'And you are how old…?'

'I'm sixteen – well, seventeen, in a while,' said Harry.

'Oh, I'm sixteen, too! When's your birthday?'

'Er- tomorrow, actually.'

'Really? Well, it's almost tomorrow already, right? What time _is _it, anyway?'

Harry took a glance at his watch.

'A quarter past ten,' he said.

'Well, happy birthday, one hour and forty-five minutes in advance!' said Nathalia cheerfully, practically bouncing. Harry could not stifle a small laugh.

'You know, if you don't mind… I mean, since you're not really doing anything,' began Nathalia, 'could you show me around this place?'

'Er,' said Harry, 'there's nothing much around Little Whinging, really, unless you like houses.'

'Okay,' said Nathalia, grinning in an exasperated though amused way. 'Let me try this again. Since you're not really doing anything… wanna take a walk?'

Harry blinked at her for a moment. She had to be the first muggle who actually wanted to spend any time at all with him. He figured there would not be any harm in taking a walk with Nathalia, so he shrugged and gave a nod. Nathalia laughed.

'You are really cute, you know that? In an adorable way, that is,' she said. Harry gave her a small smile, unsure how to react to this compliment he rarely received.

Their walk was a rather silent one at first. They appreciated the cool night air as they paced slowly along the path. Harry felt rather strange, taking a walk with a muggle he barely even knew. Still, he felt very free, not having to be 'Harry Potter – The Boy Who Lived', or 'Harry Potter – The Chosen One'… but instead, being just plain Harry, the boy-next-door (or across the road?).

Just then, he heard Nathalia laugh again. He looked at her, and she grinned back.

'You don't look anything like your brother,' she said.

Harry shot a quizzical look at her. 'My brother?' he asked.

'Oh! Wasn't he your brother? I saw him go home… you know, the… big- blonde-'

'_Dudley_?' said Harry, and he began to laugh more than he had done in a while.

'No, he's not my brother… he's my cousin. The beefy man's my uncle, and the skinny woman's my aunt.'

'So you don't live with your parents? Funny… neither do I,' said Nathalia, smiling again. This time, however, it was a slightly crooked, saddened smile.

'Who do you live with, then?'

'My aunt and uncle, like you do.'

There was some silence again when Harry wondered if he should ask why she did not live with her parents.

'My parents died. Last month.'

Harry looked at her. She no longer wore that mischeivous smile, and she seemed to have lost her happy bounce. He quickly turned to look at his feet instead. He heard her sniff. He saw her wipe a tear with his jacket sleeve.

'I'm sorry I spoiled this,' she said quickly, sniffing again.

'No, don't be sorry-'

'I just miss them so much-'

'It's not your fault-'

'And we argued before they left-'

'That's got nothing to do with-'

'I never appreciated them-'

'Look, Nat, my parents died _too_!' said Harry exasperatedly, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her in the eye. It was after he said it that he wondered why he had just called her Nat.

They stopped and Nathalia looked at him with large, watery eyes.

'I'm sorry,' she said again.

'Don't be. I'm fine with it, reallly.'

More silence.

'Sorry to ask, but… when did they…?' she said suddenly.

'When I was one. Just before I moved here,' Harry said. He heard her sniff again.

'Look, er, maybe we should go back?' Harry suggested. Nathalia nodded and they turned back.

Considering how sad she seemed, Harry thought it best to walk her home. She was probably the only orphan he knew other than himself – except, perhaps, Voldemort.

'Thanks, Harry,' said Nathalia when they got to her door. She had stopped crying by now.

'No problem,' he replied. 'Goodnight, then.'

'Goodnight, Harry.'

He had just begun to walk home when he heard footsteps behind him. 'Harry, wait!'

He spun around, and once he did, he caught a glimpse of Nathalia's face before she swooped up and kissed him on the cheek. He blinked a few times, temporarily stunned.

It was dark, but he could see Nathalia blushing.

'Thank you, Harry. Really.'

And she ran off before he could reply.

Rubbing his cheek gently, he walked back home.


	2. Author's Note

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Just wanted to add some stuff.

Yup, I will add chapters upon review and stuff! So yes, do review. Evidently I don't own Harry Potter but I do own Nathalia Rodriguez. Hope you like my story!


	3. Letters

**A/N: Well I guess this chapter is a bit boring. Next chapter has more of the exciting parts I suppose. :**

**R&R.**

He opened his bedroom door and was greeted by Hedwig once again. He was not sure if she was particularly fast, or whether it was just him. Dreamily, he untied the letter from her leg.

_Great, you can come stay with us next week! Would've asked you to come sooner, but mum won't let you catch my flu. How are things at home?_

_Happy Birthday in advance! Hope you like the present._

_Ron_

Harry wondered where Ron's present was, before seeing an extra little box tied onto Hedwig's other leg. He opened it curiously and something fluttered out – he shut his window quickly so it wouldn't escape. Looking around his room, he saw it hovering near the ceiling, and it was unmistakably a Golden Snitch.

Harry smiled to himself, took a new piece of parchment and wrote his reply.

_Thanks a lot for the present, it's awesome._

_Things are the same as usual. I turn seventeen in a few minutes and I'm thinking of learning to conjure food, I can't live on grapefruit like Dudley's doing. Maybe your mum could teach me. _

_Can't wait for next week. Is Hermione going?_

_Harry_

Harry began to roll his letter up when he paused for a moment, and then unrolled the parchment again, adding a postscript.

_P.S. I think I made a new friend today. A muggle neighbour called Nathalia. She's an orphan, too._

Hedwig was tired from the trip, so he decided to wait till morning before sending his letter.

He lay on his bed once more, and thought about things. His school, his friends, Ginny… which lead to him thinking about Nathalia. He barely knew her, but he felt like they had a lot in common, though he could only think of the orphan part. He felt like she needed taking care of.

_I want to take care of her, _Harry thought. His eyes widened at himself.

_No, I don't. That was completely random._

When he finally persuaded himself, he decided to get some sleep… until he noticed it was past midnight. Thinking he should just try a few spells just for fun, he pulled out his wand and twirled it in his fingers.

'_Lumos_,' he muttered.

The wand lit.

'_Accio pillow_.'

A pillow he had carelessly tossed into a corner earlier flew into his hand.

Harry sat up and stared out of the window. No owls coming in to say he was expelled for underage magic. He heard a soft flutter beside his ear and realised he had left the snitch to zoom around freely. He tried to snatch it, but it flew off. He grinned.

'_Accio golden snitch_.'

But nothing happened. He could still hear the snitch flying around. He figured that the snitch must have enchantments so that seekers did not just summon it during a game as they pleased.

He continued doing random spells till he saw something in the distance through his window… an owl, no less. Could he be charged with underage magic after all?

He caught the snitch and placed it back in its box before opening the window to let the owl in. To his relief, it was carrying a package rather than a letter. He let the owl drink from Hedwig's cage and opened the box. He found a camera and a letter inside.

_Dear Harry,_

_It's going to be our last year at Hogwarts. I know you love the place, so maybe you could use this to capture some memories so you can look back whenever._

_I think I'll take you to Ron's next week. See you soon!_

_Happy Birthday!_

_Love from_

_Hermione_

Harry was not sure what Hermione meant by 'taking him to Ron's', but he decided to wait for the time to come. He pulled out the camera and was thankful to Hermione – taking photos of his last year at Hogwarts would be a good idea.

The owl from Hermione flew off. Harry tried a few more spells before finally going to sleep.

Harry dreamt he was in the Gryffindor common room, talking with Ron and Hermione by the fireplace. Ginny came in like in his previous dream, only she did not burst in angrily. She sat down in a corner and made no sign of acknowledging their presence.

'Hey, Ginny,' said Harry. Ron and Hermione shot him a dirty look, for some reason.

Ginny burst into tears like she had in the other dream, and Hermione went over to comfort her.

'You couldn't be _this _mean, Harry,' said Ron quietly beside him.

'What are you-'

'You very well _know _Ginny hasn't gotten over the fact that you-' began Hermione, but trailed off when Ginny sobbed loudly.

'But- I thought she knew why I had to- to break up with her!'

'You know that isn't the reason,' said Hermione angrily. Ron got up from beside him and went to comfort Ginny, too.

Harry woke up and had no recollection of any dreaming. He tied his letter to Hedwig to send and she flew off.

He went downstairs, where Uncle Vernon was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. Aunt Petunia was cutting more grapefruit, and Dudley was nowhere to be seen – he was probably still sleeping in, as usual.

Harry took a seat at the table and looked at the front of Uncle Vernon's newspaper, where he found nothing of particular interest. Aunt Petunia came to the table and set the plates of grapefruit down. Uncle Vernon put down his newspaper, frowned at the grapefruit and shook his head before eating it.

'Vernon, did you know we have new neighbours?' said Aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon grunted.

'Of course I have, made a hell load of noise moving in, didn't they?'

Harry continued eating his grapefruit, thinking about Nathalia.

'But Vernon, Mr. Rodriguez is a wealthy entrepreneur!'

Uncle Vernon looked up and shifted a little in his seat.

'Rodriguez? Anthony Rodriguez?' he said. Aunt Petunia nodded.

'I think our Dudders is growing up, he was looking at the Rodriguez girl yesterday…' she said. Harry's eyes widened.

'That Anthony Rodriguez could be a big client! And it would help if Dudley… _got along _with their daughter, if you know what I mean-'

'She's not their daughter,' said Harry suddenly. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looked at him. HHhhhhe quickly continued eating his grapefruit, knowing he had said too much.

'Well, if she's not their daughter, who is she?' snapped Aunt Petunia.

'Um. She's their niece,' said Harry quietly.

'You know the girl, do you?' asked Uncle Vernon. Harry tried to avoid his beady little eyes.

'Well, even if she is their niece, no harm getting close. Petunia, how about we invite them for dinner, you could make your blueberry pie…'

Harry quickly finished his grapefruit and put his plate in the sink before hurrying off.

'Wait there, boy.'

Harry stopped in his tracks, wondering what Uncle Vernon would say.

'Don't get too close to the Rodriguez girl. We can leave that to Dudders.'

Harry shut his eyes and breathed heavily for a moment before going up the stairs.


	4. I Hope I Won't Regret This

'Nat- Nathalia! What are you doing here?' said Harry when he opened his door and found Nathalia sitting on his bed. She smiled.

'I climbed in through your window. I just wanted to return your jacket and, er, _thank you_…' she trailed off, looking at the box which held the Golden Snitch. She picked it up, and remembering that she was a muggle, Harry ran over and snatched it away from her.

'You already thanked me last night, it's alright,' said Harry, gripping the box tightly.

'What's in the box?' she asked, still looking at it. 'Something from your girlfriend?'

'No, it's not,' said Harry, slightly irritably.

'Do you _have _a girlfriend?' Nathalia asked. Harry stared at her for a while.

'…no. I don't have a girlfriend.'

Nathalia laughed. 'Are you serious?' she asked. Harry was silent for a while, and looked away before giving a small nod.

'Well, that's surprising,' she said. 'You're really cute.'

Harry turned back to look at her.

'…unless the girls here have different tastes?' she continued.

Harry sighed and sat down next to her on the bed.

'What's wrong? Your girlfriend broke up with you, or something?'

Harry shook his head.

'…or you broke up with her? Or are you not allowed to be together, or something?'

Harry was surprised at her fairly accurate guess.

'Close enough,' he mumbled, and sank onto his bed.

'Aw,' she said, and ruffled his hair. Nathalia making him remember Ginny made him sad, and he made no attempt to remove her hand from his head.

'You should go,' he said, his eyes staring at the ceiling. 'My uncle doesn't want me getting close to you and if he finds you here, I'm toast.'

'But why doesn't he want you to get close to me?'

'He wants my cousin to get _along_ with you, if you know what I mean. He wants your uncle for a client.'

Nathalia stared at him for a while, before breaking into a small smile.

'…so I'm not supposed to see you, or anything?' she asked. 'Like you and your ex-girlfriend.'

'No, I suppose not,' Harry said. 'And her case was different.'

'But that's terrible. Harry, I like you.' And she kissed him.

His eyes wide, he tried pushing her off. 'Nathalia!' he said angrily.

'I'm- I'm sorry.' She turned away.

'Why- why did you kiss me?'

'Because I _like _you!'

'But- but I don't like you back!'

'You sure about that?' she asked.

Harry was not sure why, but her question really led him to think. Even though he somewhat liked that kiss. But that was not any reason to like her.

'Well- I don't know, we just met, didn't we?'

'So?' Nathalia demanded.

'Even if I _liked _it-'

'You liked it?'

Harry stared at her. 'Uh-' he began.

'Well, if you liked it, who's complaining?' she said, reaching over and kissing him again.

Unable to give in to temptation, Harry kissed her back. It on for a few more seconds, and he gave her a final shove.

'No. That's more than enough,' he said firmly. He got up and motioned for Nathalia to climb out of his window. She looked at him for a while with her large eyes before getting up reluctantly and leaving.

Harry slumped on his bed and put his hands on his face, thinking about what just happened. God, he couldn't take it all in.

He fumbled around for his wand and he waved it in the air till sparks flew out of it. He put it down and then stared at the ceiling for an awfully long time.

'I hope I'm not gonna regret this,' he said suddenly, got up and dashed down the stairs and out of his house.


End file.
